Yuga Labs, a nonfungible token (NFT) company, will remove its collections from NFT marketplaces that do not provide royalties to all creators.
On February 26, Yuga, the firm behind the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collections, declared on X (previously Twitter) that parts of their NFT collections will be traded only on markets that “respect creator royalties.” They wrote:
“Royalties are the lifeline that keeps creators building fun, weird, and innovative activations in the space.”
While Yuga Labs is discontinuing support for non-royalty marketplaces, it will only apply to a subset of its NFT collections. This includes their royalty-filtered collections, such as Sewer Passes, HV-MTL, 10KTF, Otherside, and more.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) February 26, 2024
Yuga Labs’ decision to withdraw support for non-royalty NFT marketplaces comes as Magic Eden launches an Ethereum-based marketplace. Yuga believes that Magic Eden’s contractual royalty enforcement will return the area to a creator-led Web3.
South Korean officials will discuss NFTs with Gary Gensler
South Korea’s financial authorities will meet with the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States, Gary Gensler, to examine whether NFTs should be recognized as virtual assets.
On February 26, local media outlet Edaily stated that Lee Bok-hyun, chairman of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), will begin conversations with Gensler in May. The paper states that there are currently no clear legal definitions for NFTs in the country.
NFTs were likewise excluded from the definition of virtual assets under South Korean rules slated to take effect in July. This was because lawmakers determined that the risk to the NFT markets is low because they are mostly traded for collection purposes.
Because of these considerations, the discussions will center on NFTs and whether they should be included and classified as virtual assets. However, the FSS noted that the meeting’s schedule and agenda have yet to be determined.
US Air Force analyst charged with NFT rug pull
A cyber analyst for the United States Air Force has been accused of defrauding investors by exploiting two Solana-based NFT collections.
On February 21, Devin Alan Rhoden, 24, an Air Force analyst, and Berman Jerry Nowlin Jr., 20, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. If convicted, the couple could face five years in federal prison.
The two created three Solana-based NFT sets titled Undead Apes, Undead Lady Apes, and Undead Tombstone, luring investors to transfer them at least $300,000 in cryptocurrency in return for the NFTs.
The allegations say that the two made “material misrepresentations” to entice investors to their initiatives, including claiming to be working with a well-known NFT. However, when the project denied any ties to Rhoden and Nowlin Jr.’s collections, asset prices plummeted. By that point, the duo had already converted the cryptocurrency assets they had received from investors into dollars.
